Henry a



UNITED STATES ,PATENT OFFICE.

HENRY A. ROSENTHAL, 0F NEW YORK, N. Y.

UTERINE SUPPORTER.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 12,965, dated May 29, 1855.

T o all whom 'it may concern: Y

Be it known that I, HENRY A. ROSEN- THAL, of the city, county, and Stateof New York, have invented a new and useful Instrument to Support theUterus in Cases of Prolapsus Uteri; and I do hereby declare that thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of thisspecification, in which- Figure 1 is a perspective view natural size ofmy uterine supporter in the condition in which it supports the uterus,and Fig. 2, a front view of the same in the condition in which it entersthe body. Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts inboth figures.

This invention consists in an instrument composed of two supportingplates or leaves and a double shank or stem; the said plates or leavesbeing connected together in such a manner as to be capable of folding topass without difculty into the vagina, and when inserted far enough intothe vagina, of being extended into such form as to rest upon the partsat the sides of the upper part of the vagina to support the uterus, andthe double shank or stem being for the purpose of folding the supportingplates or leaves together to insert them in and withdraw them from thebody, and of extending them when in the body.

a, c, are the supporting plates or leaves, both of similar form havingtheir inner ends straight to enable them to be hinged together by ahinge b, their sides nearly parallel and their outer ends rounded. Theyare curved in such a way that when extended they form an inverted archas shown in Fig. 1. The best material for these plates or leaves ismetal plate coated with gutta percha, or some other anticorrosivesubstance, c, c', are two light metal rods attached one to the underside or back of each of the plates or leaves, forming the shank or stemabove spoken of. These stand nearly perpendicular to the plates orleaves, but are slightly curved as shown in Fig. 1, so that when theplates or leaves are extended and the said rods are drawn together, thelatter may occupy an easy position within the vagina. This curved formalso prevents the shank turning, and thereby keeps the leaves fromgetting out of place. The

rod c, is formed with a screw on its extremity which is provided with anut CZ, and the extremity of the other rod c, is so formed as shown ate, Fig. 2 that when the nut is unscrewed to a suitable extent the partc, may be brought close to the rod c, and may be secured by the nut whenit is screwed up the rod c. The nut should be so applied that it cannoteasily be unscrewed entirely from the rod c. The rods, the nut, and thehinge should all be varnished with some varnish that will not beaffected by the secretions of the body.

The instrument should be applied while the patient has been for sometime in a recumbent position so that the uterus may have assumed itsnatural position or may be easily forced into that position by the actof inserting the instrument in the body. The instrument must be appliedwith the nut d, unscrewed, and the rods of the shank separated farenough to bring the supporting plates or leaves close together as shownin Fig. 2; the plates or leaves being kept as nearly as possibleparallel with an imaginary plane intersecting the body centrally. Vheninserted as far into the vagina as the shank will allow, the plates orleaves should be extended by drawing together the two rods c, c',forming the shank, and as they are extended should be gradually pushedinward. When they are fully extended as shown in Fig. l, and the tworods of the shank are drawn close together the nut cl should be screwedup to confine the shank, and keep the plates or leaves extended in whichcondition they will nd a suitable resting place, and cannot beaccidentally withdrawn. The shank will then be within the vagina withbut litt-le more than the nut d, protruding beyond the pubes. Towithdraw the instrument it is only necessary to unscrew the nut d, andthen gradually extend and draw out the shank c, c', which will close andwithdraw the leaves or plates.

The extended leaves or plates a, a, will form a proper and efficientsupport for the uterus and enable the female to perform her usualhousehold or other duties and take all reasonable exercise withoutdiiiiculty. In most cases she may apply the instrument herself, removingit on retiring to rest and reinserting it before rising.

I prefer to make the plates or leaves each with an opening f. This notonly dimin- What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by LettersPatent, is-

The uterine supporter composed of the two supporting lea-ves a, a, andthe double l5 shank o, o, combined to be applied substantiaily as hereinfully set forth.

HENRY A. ROSENTHAL.

Witnesses r JAS. GEO. MASON, WILLIAM TUsoH.

